Lion King one-shot. What if Simba had died in the same gorge that Zira did while trying to save Kiara?
I own nothing. The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride and all its content belong to Disney. I do not own the cover image either.
Enjoy the story!
"Kiara," Simba cried out as he watched his mortal enemy and his only daughter tumble down into the gorge below, skimming the rocky cliffs and towards the heavy-log laden bottom where he had been just yesterday, escaping for his life against the now newly reformed enemy.
"Kiara," Kovu yelled, coming to the edge as well to see her and his mother drop.
Fearing for her safety, he jumped in, extending his claws to grasp the granite and sandstone cliffs. His legs already felt tired from the earlier battle, but now it was a more frightening matter of life or death to be dealt with now, so rest could wait. Should it be, he would risk it all to save her. His claws left deep scratches as he slid down them and leaped to another wall.
"Kiara," he cried out again, watching her and Zira bounce off the side of the walls. He saw Kiara grasp on to the side of one, trying to slow he descent before going off the edge, while Zira kept on tumbling down, finally catching her claws on the smooth stone wall, right above the flooding gully with nothing left between her and the water but air.
He then saw Kiara sliding down the wall, her claws only partially stopping her from going over the edge. He saw her desperately try to push herself up the side with her legs, but it was no use. The lower part of her body dangled off the edge, only her head, front legs and her shoulders remained upward. She tried scratching her claws against the horizontal side, trying to find something to grasp onto to pull herself up. Rocks were pushed off the ledge from her feet and started plummeting past Zira and to the water.
Her struggles only increased his efforts to rescue her. Then, by an unfortunate piece of luck, his claws scratched through the wet sandstone wall and caused him to lose grip of the rock. His eyes went wide as suddenly he felt nothing underneath either of his front paws. Air steamed past him as his body fell through with nothing to hinder or to halt his descent.
His eyes widened in shock as he screamed and desperately tried to grasp onto something, even extending his claws to try and grip anything. Sparks flew out as his claws scraped against the ridges in the stone, finally snapping onto something and stopping his fall, causing him to cringe as his body smashed into it as the wind and inertia stopped keeping it up. He cried out in pain as the sudden added weight on his paws was strained and the muscles pulled so hard some tore his skin, causing blood to meet the outside world.
He shut his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth in pain as he tried to pull himself up more. He heard a gasp from somewhere underneath him. He opened his eyes painfully, squinting from the mid-morning sun, and looked down. He saw he was hanging above and to the left of Kiara and Zira. Zira was in the same predicament that he was in, except she was loosing grip and fast. Kiara was above her on the ridge, leaning down and holding her paw out to Zira.
"She's trying to help her out of this," Simba thought. He then heard a familiar voice.
"Simba, the river!"
He looked down to where his mate was warning of and saw the log dam where had just been yesterday had held back a large sum of water and now the water was overpowering the dam. It wouldn't last much longer, not with the amount of water gathered since yesterday and the rainstorm just mere seconds ago. A large stream was already starting to rage down the wood, sweeping down the gully and blasting through rock structures.
He looked down at where the two lionesses were and saw Zira take a swipe at the paw outstretched to her. Her sudden movement caused her claws to scrape down, causing her to almost fall off. Her expression grew fearful at the water and logs below. Kiara still kept her paw outstretched to her, yet Zira kept slipping down. To little too late she realized that her own hate was going to kill her. She kept slipping down till her claws gave away off the rock and she began plummeting.
He heard her scream as she descended, her voice cutting off as soon as she fell into the water and disappeared under its blue crest, lost with the logs and debris along with it.
He heard a the sound of rock crumbling and looked back at his own paws just to watch in horror as the granite rock started giving away under his own weight. His body pulled him down some inches and it wouldn't be long till he fell to like Zira. He heard a gasp and moved his head to see his daughter looking at him, eyes widened with shock and fear.
"Daddy." he heard her call out, but there was nothing she could do now. She was too far away and would never reach him in time. He felt bits of broken rock hit his face as his claws broke it free from the rest of it. He couldn't hold much longer. He would let go any second now.
He bowed his head and pressed it against the rock, shutting his eyes tightly and causing tear fluid to form and gather at the bottom of his eyelids. He felt his eyelashes grow wet and the tears finally break free like the broken log dam below him. He knew his time was up.
Memories of his life came pouring through his brain like the flood below. Memories of his father, his mother, his mate, his daughter, his best friends. Everyone. Even the bad memories like his father's death, Scar, Zira and everything else in between. Everything. His life was up now, he knew now it was time to let go, to finally see his father in heaven and also his mother, who had passed away before his daughter's birth, and his mother-in-law, Sarafina, and his grandparents he had never met.
It was time to let go now.
His daughter's screams merged with the wind whistling as he fell. He felt his body grew numb as he felt his hearing and sight cut off, even before he hit the water. There was something peaceful about his fall, almost calming. He heard the rush of water and the creaking and snapping of logs cut off the screams of his friends and beloved ones right before he hit the water.
The icy coldness of the water broke as he plummeted in. At first he cringed and tried to swim back up to the surface as the logs hit against him, causing bruises, and the cold water burned and numbed him to the bone, but eventually he stilled, letting the air out of his lungs and allowed the water to completely wash over him and his mind of everything.
His last thoughts were that Kovu would take care of Kiara and the pride after his death, and that he would always be there for them, looking down from heaven above.
Then, the darkness overcame him.
Kiara watched in horror as her father had the same horrible fate as Zira, falling into the water. He didn't even scream in fear as he just fell in, not even like he was afraid of the danger below him.
Simba. King of the Pridelands. Her father. Gone. Just like that. She saw his body sink into the water below, not coming up. the water below started losing its mass, turning from the ravaging rapids to a stream, the a trickle. The logs underneath showed, but no sign of her father's body, or Zira's. They were both... gone. She had lost both of them.
She felt stinging her eyes as a thick wave, a layer of sadness as thick as the night overcame her. He felt onto her belly on the ridge, covering her face with her paws as the stinging lead to squeezing her eyes shut to push forward her tears. Soon enough she was sobbing like a baby that had been pulled away from it's mother's warm belly and the rubbery teat with milk.
Seconds turned to minutes, yet time meant nothing to her, Her heart was breaking, pain was buried deep int it. It seemed like an eternity until she felt something lightly touch her shoulders and back and soothingly brush against it. She looked up through a blurry wall of tears at who was stroking her back.
Kovu.
His emerald eyes seemed glassy. Of course, he had lost his mother too, so he must had had to been crying. Kiara wiped away her tears that were drying on her face and sniffed. Kovu went in front of her and held his forelegs out to her. Kiara nodded and quickly leaned into his chest, sobbing renewed against his mane. Kovu held her tightly, his tears dripping down his face too. He looked at the river, now smooth with a few logs drifting lazily down the current. He began to breath raggedly and he placed his face on her neck, his tears falling onto her fur.
Two parents had been lost today.
The pride had united, but had lost two of its leaders. After Kiara and Kovu climbed out of the canyon, both teams headed back to Pride Rock. There was no sense leaving the Outlanders behind when there was no war against them. There was no reason to fight now. The feud was over.
The entire pride, both Outlander and Pridelander, had mourned the loss of their leaders. Zazu had spread the word by wing of Simba's death, so that the entire Pridelands might know. Nala had decided to step down from her place as queen and to appoint Kiara as the new one, with Kovu as her consort. They would rule the Pridelands now that Simba had passed away. And despite not going as planned, Kovu had still made his mother's wishes of becoming king of Pride Rock.
Their ceremony would be held in the morning, two days after Simba and Zira's deaths and funerals. Though they could not find their bodies, they still held to traditions and would mourn and fast for three days. So was the common thing to do there.
On the day of Kovu's and Kiara's coronation, both stood on Pride Rock's stand, looking out at the view from what they could see there. It was still dawn and a few animals could be seen approaching, brought by the African wind said to be sent by the spirits of kings and queens past.
Both did not feel very regal or majestic now, not with the thought's of their parents and would-be in-law's dead. Both of their hearts felt heavy with despair. Kiara leaned into Kovu, a tear spilling out and wetting her cheek. Kovu nuzzled her.
"Today's the day" he said. Kiara whimpered and nodded as much as she could.
"It just doesn't feel right. When I pictured becoming queen I pictured my mom and dad right alongside me, encouraging and cheering me on as I ascended the point. Without dad or Zira here, it just feels like-
"-Like a piece is missing," he finished. Kiara nodded again. She turned her direction to the rising sun in the west, its light already signalling for a bright and sunny day ahead. Just perfect for a coronation.
Footsteps approached and they turned to see Nala, Vitani, and the rest of the pride coming out of the den. It was the signal to begin the coronation ceremony now. Kiara and Kovu took their place at the mouth of the den while the lionesses formed a circle around them.
A rattle shook and each of them turned to see Rafiki coming up the side of Pride Rock towards the new king and queen. He moved towards Kovu and Kiara and shook his staff over their heads, showing their bond as princess and consort. They both nuzzled each other and gave smiles to prove their happiness with one another.
It was time. Nala, being the previous queen, headed towards the point first with her daughter and son-in-law following her. The lionesses sitting around in the circle bowed their heads at them as they passed. The three of them climbed the summit, Nala allowing the two to pass her and reach the edge. Both looked over the Pridelands. All of the inhabitants had come to greet their new rulers. From the birds in the air, to the herbivores, to the carnivores and everything in between, all of them were there.
The sun glistened over everything, streaming from the sky and the clouds. They felt the breeze low over them, the bits of things swirling up. The followed their eyes till they saw in the clouds, the faint silhouette of... Simba! Kiara and Kovu gasped as the figment smiled from up above. From aside him came another silhouette. Kovu smiled as he recognized the lioness with the now newly healed right ear, no notch or injuries in heaven. Zira.
Both smiled down from the sky, their faces warm with no malice or hatred visual on them. No, just pure joy and pride.
"Go on," both said.
A feeling off uplifting came over them. They turned their direction to each other and then to the crowd. Kovu began. He made a loud roar and finished quickly. Then Kiara roared, doing exactly as Kovu. Then both of them roared in synchronization, making it louder and longer this time. The pride behind them roared too, honoring and praising their new rulers.
The animals cheered, calling out and bowing down at the new king and queen of the Pridelands.
"Well done," They both said, their voices undeniably filled with pride.
The Circle of Life was finally complete. They were one.
Hope you all enjoyed the story. This was originally going to be a story where Kiara saves Zira from falling, but then I thought "There have already been so many of those kinds of stories", so I decided to evolve a bit on the idea and on what else I could do and thus this was born. Hope you all like it, sorry if it appeared a bit too graphical times.
Please review and tell me how I did. Remember, reviews are loved and cherished. Sincerely, v.t.7